Roulette
Roulette is a fictional character from the Wild Cards mosaic novel . She was created by Melinda M. Snodgrass. History Roulette Brown-Roxbury did not know that she carried the Wild Card virus until she gave birth to a horribly deformed joker that took four days to die after it was born. Her upper-class husband Josiah refused to believe that he too carried the wild card virus, insisting that Roulette must have had an affair, and finally divorced her. Spiralling into depression, Roulette eventually became a prostitute to support herself. She then discovered the other effect of the Wild Card; she sometimes produced a deadly neurotoxin during sex, and in time earned the nickname "Russian Roulette" among those patrons who knew of her ability. Sex with her became a risky status symbol, like that of eating Fugu fish in Japan. Eventually, she learned to produce this poison at will by concentrating on the horrific memories of giving birth. It was then that she was discovered by the Astronomer, who offered to erase her painful memories if she worked for him. As with so many others before her, he had no intention of doing so as long as she proved useful. First, on September 15, 1986, Wild Card Day (the anniversary of Jetboy's death) the Astronomer had Roulette kill the Howler, who had taken part in one of the Astronomer's previous defeats. The Howler's death was merely the first of many tragic stories to make the news that fateful day. Next Roulette was told to seduce and kill Dr. Tachyon, the alien inventor of the wild card virus. At first she was quite determined to get her revenge on the man ultimately responsible for the suffering of herself and many others. But after spending time with Tachyon, and seeing how "human" he actually was, how guilt-stricken and how dedicated to helping the virus' victims, she came to gradually care for him. When the Astronomer was finally killed, Roulette chose to leave Tachyon alive, and to leave town to try to live with her own memories. Roulette later returned to New York and was infected with Typhoid Croyd's mutated strain of the wild card virus, resulting in her death. Her infection enlightened Tachyon on the nature of this new virus strain. Wild Card Traits Roulette can produce a lethal toxin within her that can be released into a sex partner during intercourse. The transfer of poison requires her to reach a state of orgasm, and the victim will die in seconds, the infected areas of flesh bloating and turning black as the poison spreads from the genitalia outwards. Appearance Roulette is stunningly attractive with dark skin and fine chiselled cheek bones and nose. She wears her hair in braids, often with tint crystals woven into the braids. Personality Roulette is driven and angry about what the wild card has done to her life, and carries a deep resentment towards Tachyon in particular. The loss of her baby is a painful memory that drove her to perform heinous acts in return for promises that she could have the memory of her joker baby erased. Selected Reading * * "Blood Ties" Category:Characters with sex-related powers Category:POV characters Category:Typhoid Croyd victims